Barclays set for £4 bn
16/06/2008
Barclays, the U.K.'s fourth- biggest lender by market value, said sovereign wealth funds should be welcomed worldwide.
Analysts including Citigroup., Standard & Poor's Equity Research and Lehman Brothers Holdings estimate Barclays will need at least 7 billion pounds ($13.6 billion) to strengthen its balance sheet.
Barclays is in talks with sovereign wealth funds to gain 4 billion pounds of funding.
The company sold shares to Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte and Beijing-based China Development Bank last year to help finance the acquisition of Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Holding NV.
The bank, which wrote down 2.3 billion pounds in credit-related assets at its securities arm last year, forecasts lower profit growth over the next four years amid higher global credit costs and a slumping U.K. housing market.
